Twitter Fined $150 Million for Misusing Users’ Data for Advertising Without Consent

Twitter, which is in the method of staying obtained by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has agreed to pay $150 million to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to settle allegations that it abused non-community details gathered for security reasons to provide specific advertisements.

In addition to the monetary penalty for “misrepresenting its privacy and security procedures,” the corporation has been banned from profiting from the deceptively gathered information and requested to notify all affected users.

“Twitter acquired details from people on the pretext of harnessing it for security purposes but then ended up also using the knowledge to goal buyers with adverts,” FTC Chair Lina M. Khan stated in a assertion. “This observe afflicted extra than 140 million Twitter buyers, when boosting Twitter’s key resource of revenue.”

In accordance to a complaint filed by the U.S. Justice Section, Twitter in May possibly 2013 commenced implementing a prerequisite for end users to offer possibly a phone selection or email handle to improve account security.

The intention was to ostensibly assistance users get better obtain to their locked accounts as nicely as allow two-factor authentication by sending a a person-time password to the registered phone range or email address right after signing in with a username and password.

But what Twitter failed to make clear was that it also allowed advertisers to use this data to concentrate on specific adverts by matching them with email addresses and phone figures previously attained from other 3rd-parties such as information brokers.

The social media platform reiterated the issue was addressed as of September 17, 2019, incorporating it will operate to make investments with regards to “operational updates and method enhancements to guarantee that people’s particular information remains secure and their privacy guarded.”

“Shoppers who share their non-public information have a proper to know if that facts is remaining employed to aid advertisers target buyers,” said U.S. Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds for the Northern District of California. “Social media firms that are not trustworthy with buyers about how their individual info is getting utilised will be held accountable.”

This development marks the next time Twitter has settled with the U.S. shopper protection watchdog. In March 2011, it admitted to charges that it “deceived shoppers and put their privacy at risk by failing to safeguard their personal details,” therefore enabling hackers to attain administrative management in excess of the system two times in 2009.

Discovered this posting intriguing? Observe THN on Facebook, Twitter  and LinkedIn to read through additional exclusive content we article.

Some elements of this post are sourced from:
thehackernews.com